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Wasn't as distinctly avearge as the rest of the series, so I suppose thats good! I actually had a feeling someone was going to be killed off, hopefully they can move forward and improve on this series, which imho wasn't a patch on S1.

Didn't understand Gray's motives, seemed a bit childish to me. If someone had made me lose my brother's grip and impriosned me, I would want revenge on the one's who had chased me, not my brother.

They made sure they got the Doctor Who (Aliens of London) refernce in, even though it was poor. Don't know what having the 'Death' figures (that Ianto and Tosh shot) was all about.

Captain John made like a Frenchman and changed sides, a good character as he is, I hope we don't see him for a while. Bring back Bilis, now there is a proper villian and the BEST character to ever appear in Torchwood.

4/5 for Exit Wounds

2/5 for the series, sorry I feel really let down!

Please check out my blog, as I attempt to watch and review EVERY Doctor Who episode! http://journeythroughtimeandspace.blogspot.com/

Not having been spoiled at all prior to watching it, I have to say that truly rocked my world. I was absolutely riveted to my screen. There were the odd moments that made no sense whatsoever  well, okay, the one moment when the guys with scythes showed up  but even that at least had comedic value. (Though it was rather an Indiana Jones-esque clichι.)

I have to admit that this episode did a superb job of making sense of the series. I no longer see Torchwood as mere "acceptable filler" between seasons of Doctor Who. Given that the parent program is going to make us wait quite a while for Series 5, I'm glad that they've made this into a show that genuinely grabs my attention on its own merits. On the strength of this night, 2009 could well be that "magic" season that new concepts need to truly "emerge".

It's simply impossible to compare this series finale with last year's; this was better by almost every single measure. The only thing that really bugged me was the actor playing Gray. It was a good effort, but he didn't quite pitch it right, somehow. The character of Gray, by contrast, had a lot to recommend him. HIs motivations were easily understood  he's insane, but for good cause. He's the Master, for adults. It's a shame that the actor didn't bring more weight and nuance to the part, because the lines could have supported it.

Maybe in time, and with enough viewings, the Skeptic in me will return, but I'm bound to say for now that as narrative arcs go, that's the best effort we've gotten out of the Whoniverse since RTD took it over. Not quite sure what that's saying, though. Since Sarah Jane and Doctor Who are deliberately "continuity-light", it's in some senses unfair to judge the success of their seasons by the strength of their final episodes. Maybe it's just that Torchwood has finally lived up to its "adult" label by giving us a series-long story that rewards the viewer for paying attention  quite unlike last year.

While the tragic ending was clearly the emotional high point, what I really responded to was the fact that it echoed the theme of "Last of the Time Lords". It made me choke up to hear Jack forgiving his brother, because that literally came straight from the Doctor. If Sarah Jane Adventures is really about Sarah Jane carrying on, essentially, the tradition of the fun, adventuring Doctor, Torchwood seems now firmly fixed on portraying Jack as the steward of the Doctor's deeper, more serious attributes. I really dig that the three shows have clear, interesting territorial boundaries now.

The onus is clearly on Doctor Who now. After two stellar seasons of the spin-offs, can it maintain its status as the best thing coming out of Upper Boat? Given the lackluster Christmas performance, and the disdain with which people other than myself view some of the episodes of Series 3, it's more than a fair question.

"I think of myself as ambitious in casting terms, and I know that Bonnie [Langford] has the potential to make the part totally unirritating . . ."  JNT, 1986

Didn't understand Gray's motives, seemed a bit childish to me. If someone had made me lose my brother's grip and impriosned me, I would want revenge on the one's who had chased me, not my brother.

...

Yeah, I felt the same way. I sort of had to try to write it up as that he became twisted and demented from being tortured by the "creatures" and that made him the way he was... it was just hard to believe it as it was presented in this story.

[Quote by: DarthSkeptical] ...The only thing that really bugged me was the actor playing Gray. It was a good effort, but he didn't quite pitch it right, somehow. The character of Gray, by contrast, had a lot to recommend him. HIs motivations were easily understood  he's insane, but for good cause. He's the Master, for adults. It's a shame that the actor didn't bring more weight and nuance to the part, because the lines could have supported it.

...

Yeah, I agree. This is what I meant from my comments in my previous posting here. He has become twisted, but it just wasn't sold as such really from what we seen in this story. I am not sure if it is solely due to the actor's interpretation of the character, or the script itself. Something was lacking to sell the audience completely.

[Quote by: merlin_mccarley]
1. We now know (Cannonically speaking) that Tosh was the same character in the... As she put it "Space Pig" episode.

This has been known for a long time.

I agree, but it still seems to be a point of contention between some.

Did I miss something? Was there a mention of the space pig in this episode? I may need to re-watch it. I know I did get interrupted with a phone call while I was watching it. I might of missed something small at that point.

[Quote by: merlin_mccarley]
1. We now know (Cannonically speaking) that Tosh was the same character in the... As she put it "Space Pig" episode.

This has been known for a long time.

I agree, but it still seems to be a point of contention between some.

Did I miss something? Was there a mention of the space pig in this episode? I may need to re-watch it. I know I did get interrupted with a phone call while I was watching it. I might of missed something small at that point.

Cheers,
Louis

It's there during the scene when they are fixing the reactor. Tosh had to pretend to be a medic during Owen's 2nd. week in Torchwood beacuse he was hung over.

[Quote by: tarashnat]
1. We now know (Cannonically speaking) that Tosh was the same character in the... As she put it "Space Pig" episode.

This has been known for a long time.

Actually, no, we haven't known this canonically until this episode. It was never stated onscreen that they were the same character, nor was it ever hinted that they might have been. Even the name "Doctor Sato" derives entirely from the credits to "Aliens of London".

In fact, I've always kind of found it odd, since she met the Doctor, and had access to everything known about him, that she never had a conversation with Jack about him. One would have thought the perfect opportunity would have been immediately after "End of Days". She should've been the one to go over all the Hub's internal security cameras and local external CCTV cameras with a fine tooth comb. She's a bright girl; she should have been able to put two and two together.

So when there was no connection made, despite Jack's fairly liberal use of the word, "Doctor", I kinda took that as narrative argument that there were two Satos. This deathbed revelation is thus very much a new thing.

In truth, it probably raises more questions than it answers, though. Here are a few: if she was there for Torchwood, wouldn't she have had to make some sort of after-action report? If so, wouldn't she have had to mention the Doctor in that report? Wouldn't that have made her remember the Doctor even more? Wouldn't Jack have given some sort of reaction to the name "the Doctor", especially since the report would have narrated an event that would have surely described "the right Doctor"? In short, the explanation given in this episode does a lot of good. It adequately explains why Tosh was an apparent MD in Doctor Who, but an IT expert in Torchwood. It doesn't, however, explain how she and Jack never connected over the Doctor, given that she knows what he looks like, would've had (at the very least) access to Clive's website, and would've recognized the sound that concludes "End of Days". So it was a nice touch, but it only answered one of the two mysteries arising from "Doctor Sato" in "Aliens of London".

"I think of myself as ambitious in casting terms, and I know that Bonnie [Langford] has the potential to make the part totally unirritating . . ."  JNT, 1986

My wife (yes, she has watched a few more episodes after she 'gave up') was really disappointed by this entire season, and didn't like this finale at all.

Me? I thought it was 10x better than series 1.

And was I the only one who was scratching their head over the way some of Gray's lines were delivered? At first I was just thinking that they had to do some rerecording of his lines, but then as you listen, at times those lines sounded more and more like Barrowman. Ok, the voice gives a real brotherly quality to the actor who plays Gray, but I was getting the impression that it was Barrowman himself dubbing lines over the actor's speaking. It was really off-putting the handful of times I caught it.